Black Flowers
by NocturnalRainbows
Summary: A mysterious girl runs across Hinata during a secluded training session. When it turns out she has both bloodlines of an Uchiha and a Senju, people eagerly try to find out how the girl came to be as she is, but for Hinata she is just a girl who needed a friend in a crazy, bloody world. Hinata/Ayane...semi Hinata/Sasuke.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It is the rightful property of Kishimoto Masashi. **

**A/N:**

**xXx**

**Black Flowers**

**Chapter 1**

The droplets splashed as they sprayed off the waterfall, glittering almost like diamonds from the light of the full moon hanging over the night sky. They glided from their source and landed about the small pond the waterfall emptied out into. Only one person had the time to admire the simply beauty, a girl with long lavender hair and eyes as pale as the moon itself with creamy skin to match. Had anyone else been present that was all they would have seen as she was completely without clothing. Her delicate feet danced over the water, never sinking or breaking the line as he twirled and moved onto the next stance of her technique. Her posture and movement was as fluid as the water she trained on, showing a grace only few could achieve from years of training.

She trained in the nude because it allowed her to feel her entire body and become more aware of how her skin felt to the world. It allowed her to channel chakra, the energy source that all shinobi used to use their techniques, to every part of her body and create a barrier or launch a lethal force to repel an enemy. This was why she had to train at night. She was a very shy person at heart, but also because she did not wish to be caught performing such a unique style of training for anyone to see, especially any men. Her blood came from a long line of powerful shinobi, the Hyuga clan, and if word of someone catching her naked out in the middle of night was ever made known to them, she would be punished for humiliating the clan. Not because she was training to make herself stronger, but because she would have shamed them.

Her clan was very biased and very selective of the kind of training their people should do. It was only because of their dojutsu, their prized Byakugan, that made them so arrogant. It was also because of this that made them so paranoid. To protect their precious Kekkei Genkai they even enslaved half of their own people to use as cannon fodder to protect the more important members of the family. It was all so cruel.

That was why she had to take extra precaution when she trained like this. She wanted to keep her secret training a secret until she was strong enough to not need to hide that she trained like this. Once she had earned her father's respect, she could be honest and train at home with her family, and maybe show them that there were other methods to improving their family's prized fighting style and skills. Until then, she was keeping an eye out with her Byakugan at full alertness while preforming her routine training. Her eyes were just as good as her cousin's now. She could see everything around her and even force it into great distances if she focused it on any particular area, so she had no fear of being caught. But it never hurts to ire on the side of caution. Every night before she began, she'd set up little booby traps that only her eyes would see be set off, giving her amble time to get back to her clothes where they rested at the edge of the pond and hide.

So far she never had to dash away. No one came out this late to this particular spot of Konoha, she made sure of that. She watched carefully how the people of her village went about their daily lives, picking up their habits and daily routine so she could plan her own. During her observation she found this spot. It was popular among the civilians and none of the shinobi ever bothered to come here, as they preferred to train in the Training Grounds stationed specifically for them. She couldn't trust those grounds so she had to make do with this spot. Civilians didn't stay out late, so it wasn't much of a wait for her, but she still did not disrobe until well after midnight. She'd take that time to set up the place so she was ready in case someone ever did.

Once she had the pond to herself, then she began her training.

It wasn't conventional kind of training. Unlike her cousin who was a master of the Jyuken, it didn't work so well for her. So she had to re-create her own style, one that benefitted from her natural flexibility. It had paid off as she was more relaxed with the fighting style and could deliver more powerful blows where the old style only hampered her. Soon, when she felt she had perfected the style, she would show her father, really show him…just how strong she truly was, and maybe then begin treating her more as his daughter; not a constant disappointment.

She must have been a bit too absorbed in her inner thoughts, as he barely missed one of her alarms going off in her Byakugan's field of vision. Someone rattled the glittering piece of metal she had dangling from a tall branch, with the full moon up, she would easily see the light reflect off its shiny surface, but be up high enough so no one caught it, even if they traveled by branches. Just to see it jiggle from a sudden jerk of movement was enough for her trained senses to realize it was a person and not the wind.

Quickly as she could, she dashed for her clothes, grabbing them up into her arms and running to the nearest set of bushes where she had made a little changing room for herself. She put on her clothes as she continued to use her eyes to watch where the movement had come from. She was curious to find out who was lurking this late at night out here, but more worried of being found out. Her worrying soon turned from herself to another when she saw a young girl that looked about the same age as her come stumbling out of the growth. She walked with a bad limp and seemed to not be all too aware of her surroundings. What was more, the girl was completely naked and blood was running down the side of her body.

The strange girl continued mindlessly to walk into the clearing and then collapsed when her foot stumped into a rock just near the edge of the pond. She fell face first into the water and did not move very much afterwards. "Oh, goodness!" she said and rushed over to the fallen girl's side. She kneeled down quickly and picked the girl's body up, getting her face out of the water before she accidentally drowned herself. "Hello? Can you hear me? What happened to you?" she asked while shaking the girl slightly.

The girl just rolled her eyes in a trance-like state, showing she was not aware of anything around her.

"I need to get you to a medic! Hold on!" she warned the girl as she picked her up, and then shushined as best she could back to the main populated area of Konoha, making a bee-line for the hospital.

It took her only two minutes as she was moving at her fastest speed. She appeared right at the hospital doors and charged in and started shouting, "I have an injured girl here!"

Immediately, the receptionist at the front desk looked up and saw the naked girl in Hinata's arms and went for the phone. In moments a full team came out and Hinata placed the girl on a bed trolley they brought out with them. After she laid her down, a nurse quickly covered the girl with a blanket and politely pushed the Hyuga away. With the patient now secure, the team bolted into the back with her, leaving Hinata staring in worry for the girl she had recused.

"Hinata?" a familiar voice called out.

Looking to the owner of the voice, Hinata turned and saw a platinum blonde girl with a ponytail that extended all the way down passed her hips. "Ino? Are you working here tonight?"

"It's almost like I'm working here all the time now…I'm actually missing working at the flower shop," the blonde girl sighed as she approached her friend. "What was that all about?"

"I dunno. I was…out about and then I came upon this girl wondering out of the woods," Hinata replied, berating herself that she almost let it slip what she was really doing.

Ino perked up an intrigued brow as a cue smile appeared on her lips. "Oh…? Were you…out on a date?"

Normally the Hyuga girl would blush like mad at even the slightly indication of something so personal, but this time Hinata just shook her head much to the blonde-girls disappointment. "No, I wasn't."

"I see. For a moment I thought you finally gave up on that loudmouth you seem to find so interesting," Ino teased.

This time she did get a slight blush after she mentioned Konoha's number one, hyperactive, loudmouth shinobi. Just the mentioning of the orange-loving boy still had that effect on Hinata. "I-Ino!"

The Ino waved off her embarrassment, continuing to torture the Hyuga heiress a bit more. It was just so fun to mess with her and it was the only entertainment she had managed to make for herself after working a near sixteen hour shift. "Come on, Hinata, you can be honest with your friend Ino…"

Hinata closed her eyes as she tried to control her heated blush. She was all too aware of the Yamanaka and her antics, especially her habit of drilling people to feed her gossip addiction. "I really wasn't with anyone when I was out, Ino."

Ino pouted at the response. She knew there was something more to it, she just had a gut feeling when people were hiding something from her, but she was still technically on her shift, so she would have to postpone this little interrogation until she was free. Granted, with the way the Hokage and her apprentice, Sakura, had been running the entire hospital and medical staff; that was going to be a long while.

"I'll get the truth yet, Hinata! I won't waver in my quest!" Ino declared as she gave a mock salute to the shy girl.

Hinata hid her giggle behind her hand and smiled. Ino could be vixen at times, but she was still a good friend to have. "If you could, I'd like to know if the girl will be all right. Could you keep an ear out for me?"

"Sure thing! I'll go see if I can't swit—!?"

"Ino! Report to emergency room twenty-two, now!" a familiar voice rang through the hospital's speakers.

"That was the Hokage?" Ino gasped, and panicking. "Oh crap! I better go now, I'll talk to you later, Hinata!" the platinum-blonde uttered before darting quickly through the same set of doors the medics took the injured girl.

Hinata frowned and stared at the doors her friend disappeared, feeling that something strange may have happened.

**xXx**

It just had to happen when she was taking her routine inspection of the hospital staff. It was so late in the night and all Senju Tsunade, the Godaime, wanted to do was go home, open a bottle of sake, and drink herself into a blissful snooze. Unfortunately, she had to make her routine so late into the night…because she spent most of the day blowing off official documents that needed her approval and signature. She barely managed to assign her shinobi's missions. She didn't know why she felt so lazy that that. Maybe it might have to do with the fact that she was missing the blonde, little gaki that had convinced her to take the Hokage position. She wasn't too concerned with the gaki's master, the Toad Sannin Jiraiya, as she never appreciated the man's perverse view…or his attempts at peeking at her well-endowed chest. Okay, maybe she did miss his stupid face and his overconfidence, but that was all she would allow herself to admit.

She started to once more think about the pair when the code went out for an emergency patient. Immediately all traces of her sloth-like attitude vanished, replaced with a battle-hardened medic-nin and quickly went to answer the code. A team went out to fetch the patient and as soon as they came back, carrying a girl on the bed trolley, Tsunade marched right alongside the team and instructed them to head for ER. They placed her in room twenty-two, one of the more active rooms than she cared to think about and started prepping the girl. Four medics were already setting up the room to perform the needed medical jutsus, inking the floor with intricate seals that would enhance their healing techniques.

Once the patient had been set on the operating table, they began scanning her body for whatever injuries she might have, so they could focus on where to apply their healing chakra to. While they were examining her, one of the medics tried to ID the girl, by running her palm print through the computer system. All active shinobi and civilians within Konoha were required to have a palm print recorded over a blood seal to make identification quicker. Normally that wasn't too much of a problem as most of the staff knew all the shinobi who ended up in their care at one point or another, but it was still standard practice to ID them. When the girl's palm print did not show up in their system, the medic brought it to Tsunade's attention.

"What do you mean, we don't have her in the system?" Tsunade questioned heatedly. She had thought in the last three years she had gotten the medical staff off their doff and back into a prime, functional machine.

The medic bowed respectfully. "I ran it three times just to be sure…she's not registered in Konoha."

Tsunade frowned harder. "Then that means she's a stranger…maybe even a spy." She went over to the phone, opening a call to the entire floor, she summoned the one person that could help her answer the new question of their current patient.

Within a few moments, Ino came storming into the operating room and readied herself for whatever Tsunade may need. "Yes, Lady Hokage?"

"Ino, I need you to run a mind-scan on this patient," Tsunade ordered, then looked at the medical team. "Is she okay enough for a mind-scan?"

One of the medics answered her without looking away from the blood-covered girl. "She has mostly lascrations over various areas of her body. Her feet are almost rubbed raw and a few of her bones, mainly in her upper arms and lower legs are fractured in multiple areas. There's a slight head concussion so we'll need to focus on healing that first before a successful mind-scan can be made."

Tsunade nodded. "Fine, once that injury is stabilized enough, I want Ino to perform the mind-scan and figure out who the hell this girl is!"

"Yes, Hokage!" the medics replied in unison and doubled their efforts.

"When it's your time to step in, Ino. I want you to find everything you can about her. This is just too much of a coincidence that she'd appear. I also want to know who brought her here," Tsunade ordered.

The medic that had been in charge of identifying the girl responded. "She was brought in by Hyuga Hinata. She was holding the girl when our team went out to get her."

"Hinata?" Tsunade said with a look of surprise. "Hmm, then I'll have to go listen to her report. For now, I want a blood test done in case this girl is hiding any nasty Kekkei Genkai that might be a hazard." She snapped her fingers and from nowhere two Anbu operatives appeared on either side of her. "I want security around her at all times. See to it that she's guard until we verify if she's a plant sent by someone, or just an innocent victim."

"Hai!" they said and vanished, going to get more Anbu to help with the security detail, and then station themselves in secrecy around the patient.

Now that that was taken care of, Tsunade just observed to make sure there weren't any surprises. She watched and nodded as the medics did their job to her liking, finding she did not need to step in at all and correct anything. Since the injuries weren't as bad as they could have been, the medics would be finished in almost no time, then Ino could get to work, and then they could find out just who this mystery girl was.

About twenty minutes later, the medic that had gone to run the blood test came back, shouting. "Lady Hokage! You must come and see what I discovered!"

Seeing the medic in such a frantic state made Tsunade take her seriously. "What did you find?"

"I-It's…I cannot say for sure. The blood test isn't completed b-but there's something you need to see for yourself," the medic said almost in a panic, looking very nervously at the seemingly harmless girl.

"Show me!" Tsunade ordered and followed the medic to the testing room.

The medic pulled up the sample she had taken from the girl and placed it under a microscope. "This blood…it's similar to two types of people…but it's impossible."

Tsunade did not say a word as she bent down to look into the microscope and examined the sample herself. Her jaw nearly fell at what she saw and then looked at the readout the computer had managed to complete. "This…This is impossible…She has both Uchiha and Senju blood traits."

"There's more…There's a sign of tampering with her DNA. I'm not the best but even I could see that both Uchiha and Senju genes are not originally part of her when she was born," the medic said, bowing respectfully. "In my humble opinion…she must have been submitted to some kind of medical procedure to implant those two clan's DNA in her body. What's more, her body seems to have adapted brilliantly to them. I almost missed it when I double checked my findings.

Tsunade returned to analyzing the blood sample. Soon she found evidence to conclude the medic's theory and she almost slammed her fist on the counter. With great will and a reminder that if she did do such a thing, she'd only end up destroying the table and its equipment with her legendary super strength, she snarled as she pulled away.

"I never thought he'd go that far…to actually use my clan's DNA for his twisted plans," Tsunade hissed through clinched teeth. "Will his insane mind ever have any boundaries?"

"My lady, you don't think it was…" the medic hushed herself when she saw the anger in her Hokage's eyes.

"Oh, there's no mistaking his touch…Orochimaru has a way of leaving his mark, no matter how small it might be," Tsunade confirmed and stood up and dashed back to the operating room. She needed answers, now!

By the time she returned, she was glad to see Ino already in the process of the mind-scan. The girl had come far from being the feeble, skinny toothpick that constantly rivaled with her youngest apprentice. She had dedicated herself to both the medical-field as well as mastering her clan's most profound mental jutsus. It was rumored that she might have surpassed her father, and he was the best Yamanaka had ever had to offer.

Ino had her eyes closed, her hands placed strategically on both sides of the unconscious girl's temple. It was impressive to see an Yamanaka work, how they were able to shift through so much data stored in a person's mind in a matter of moments was staggering. For Ino, it was faster than that it seemed, as she suddenly opened her eyes and jerked away from the girl.

"Sasuke!" Ino cried.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Ino, report! What did you find? Why did you say that traitor's name?"

Ino looked frightened and yet at the same time relieved. Obviously, the girl hadn't quite gotten over her fangirl crush over the traitorous last Uchiha, the self-proclaimed avenger as he had labeled himself before he abandoned his home and when to join Orochimaru. Not having enough patience with the girl trying to sort out her personal feelings, Tsunade marched right up to her and shook her hard after grabbing the girl's shoulders.

"Ino, you must tell me what you saw!" Tsunade demanded, using authoritative tone.

"I saw…his eyes…Sasuke's Sharingan," Ino said, almost whimpered really. "They were spinning and spinning in her mind…then he turned away from her and left, then fire and loud noises. People were screaming and Sasuke was walking into the wreckage without a care, leaving behind…her," Ino said and pointed down at the girl. "She…She got up and started stumbling her way out of someplace dark and very well hidden. When she got outside there were bones, old bones of some long dead animal and she was scared, then she started running in panic. Everything was a blur after that as she just started to run and never stopped. Oh my…" Ino then looked even more amazed. "She ran the entire way here! On foot and naked! She never slowed down, never took a break, she just came straight here after she escaped, what I'm guessing was, one of Orochimaru's bases!"

This was the golden egg they had been waiting for! There had been no word about any of Orochimaru's hidden bases, or any signs of the infamous Uchiha over the last two and half years. Now they had someone who actually had been there, but they needed to make sure that everything was really as it was, not what it appeared.

Ino beat her to it, seemingly reading her mind without the use of her clan's jutsu. "It was the truth. That girl, all her memories, revolved around a strange room Sasuke found her in. Whatever she was in there for…I-I think Sasuke set her free."

"Why would he set her free? Why would she come here?" Tsunade questioned though.

"She kept repeating Konoha in her head after Sasuke left. It was all she could think about. It was too strong to be an implanted memory and I didn't find any traces to question it. I think she might have been a citizen here in Konoha and was just trying to come back home," Ino gave her best estimate.

"As much as I want to believe that, I want your father to look at her mind, too. See if he can confirm she isn't a threat. It's not that I don't trust you, Ino, but anything with Orochimaru can't be taking lightly," Tsunade replied.

Ino bowed respectfully, even if a bit of her pride had been wounded. She made the wise choice to keep her mouth close and take what the Hokage said as more out of caution than criticism. "I'll go call my father myself."

"Thank you," Tsunade said with a nod, then turned her complete focus on the girl. "Just who are you?"

**xXx**

Hinata seat in the waiting room of the hospital. She couldn't help but wonder if the girl she had found was okay yet. It had been a while since Ino vanished to the back after she was called, and she was beginning to wonder just how long of a wait she might have on her hands. She didn't worry about letting her clan know she was going to be late. One of the privileges of being raised in a shinobi clan: there was no curfew time to follow. Once you had become a genin, you were recognized as an adult and could act like an adult…but she felt no one pressed it because even as a genin, they weren't allowed to drink until they were eighteen. Strange considering they were trained to kill people, do things that normal civilian children weren't able to do, but they could go and get drunk...

Well, there was that one time.

A friend of her jonin sensei, who she remember as one of the chunin exam examiners, had conned her sensei into having a girl's party and invited all the kunoichi and their friends. The examiner, one Mitarashi Anko aka The Crazy Snake Lady, had gotten tons of sake for the party. At first the younger girls were hesitant to drink, but then when Ino tried one after a dare with her friend and rival, Sakura, they all started to take their first taste of alcohol. The party was going fine until, to their surprise, the Hokage herself had showed up. Everyone thought they were in serious trouble, but all Anko had to do was wave two bottles of sake in the air, and the Hokage was purring like kitten after she tackled the snake woman and snatched the bottles away from her.

It was a very eventful night and seeing as the Hokage was there, too, there was no more need to be shy. Hinata had found she wasn't really found of the stuff, but it was fun sharing her first time drinking with all her friends. That and at some point Hinata blacked out and had the strangest dream of seeing Anko riding her old instructor back from her academy days like he was a horse, real saddle and all. Next day she woke up with Ino using her chest as a pillow while her cousin's teammate, Tenten was drooling over on her shoulder.

It could have been worse she imagined…or tried not to.

Her mind was pulled away from that odd memory when an Anbu appeared right before her. "The Hokage has called you to meet with you. Hold on."

Hinata barely had a chance to do anything when the Anbu suddenly grabbed her should and she felt the familiar distorted feeling of a shunshin. She knew by instinct to brace herself and be ready to be on her feet. As the distortion faded, she tried her best to keep from falling back as she had been in a sitting position when she was shunshined. Thankfully, the Anbu who had done that to her had grabbed her better and kept her from falling flat on her ear.

"T-Thank you," Hinata replied, giving the Anbu a thankful smile.

He nodded and held onto her until she balanced herself out, then quickly let go of her. When she took into account of her surroundings, she found she was in an operating room. The girl she had found was in the middle of the room being attended to by medics and standing just a bit nearby was the Hokage.

"Hinata, I want to hear where you found this girl," Tsunade ordered, glancing at the shy girl out of the corner of her eye.

"I…I…" Hinata uttered and then sighed. She could not lie to her leader, no shinobi could and were stupid to think they could and get away with it. Tsunade would sniff out any deceit before she could even think of one. Resolving herself, she stood at attention and began telling her the truth. "I was out by the swimming pond training when she stumbled out of the woods."

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow. That area was popular by the civilians, why was one of her shinobi out there training so late at night when there were plenty of training areas she could have used. "Something wrong with the training grounds?"

"I…was working on a personal style. I did not wish anyone to see it yet until I perfected it. It was meant to be a surprise to show to my father…and I did not want word getting out that I was doing so and it getting back to my father," Hinata continued. "He…is a bit strict with my clan's style of the Jyuken. I wanted to show him that there was another way of using the Jyuken…"

That was enough for Tsunade to understand without questioning. Hyuga Hiashi was a strong shinobi and a very respectable man in Konoha…but he was too traditional and pressured most of the time by his clan's elders to continue their old ways. He might have put a stop to what Hinata was doing if the elders overheard what she was trying to do. "All right…I'll keep that late of the report classified between only you and I. But tell me what you can about what happened after she came across you."

Hinata quickly told the Godaime what happened after she discovered the girl, which wasn't really much to tell, because as soon as she realized she was hurt, she rushed her to the hospital. Tsunade frowned some as she was clearly hoping for more information, but conceded to what Hinata had told her. She then turned to the Anbu that had remained, clearly knowing his leader would haven order for him after hearing what the Hyuga girl had to say. "I want a search team to go to the swimming pond and find the trail this girl came from. She shouldn't have gotten this close to Konoha without our sensors picking her up. I want to know how she managed to get so far, go!"

The Anbu bowed and shunshined away to carry out the order. Tsunade then turned to Hinata and smiled for the first time that night at her. "You really have come a long way from the shy thing you were. Keep up the good work."

Hinata was flustered by receiving such praise from the Legendary Sannin and Godaime of Konoha. Her face heated up and she feared she might pass out from the rush of emotions overwhelming her. All she could do was bow to show her thanks and partly to hide her redness. "Thank you, Lady Tsunade!"

"No, you deserve to be recognized. I'm always glad to see one of my kunoichi taking initiative to make herself stronger. This village needs more kunoichi like you to set the example for all our girls," Tsunade praised some.

Hinata knew if the Godaime continued to talk like that, she would really faint right there on the spot.

Chuckling at seeing how embarrassed the girl was, Tsunade switched back to business. "I have a personal mission for you, Hinata."

Hinata looked up sharply. "What?"

"You heard me. I have a personal mission for you. I want you to stay with this girl and report when she wakes up. I'm hoping if she wakes up to a familiar face, she'll be more inclined to tell us what happened to her, seeing as you were the one that found her," Tsunade explained.

It wasn't really something she was used to doing. Her specialty really lied in tracking and she was surprised she wasn't ordered to be part of the search team the Godaime sent the Anbu on. But the Sannin had a valid point and hopefully it will work. Also, it wasn't unheard of specialists being assigned to missions that weren't really their field of expertise. At times it was required to broaden their personal skills and teach the shinobi things to get them out of their comfort zone. This was going to be one those types of missions for Hinata.

"I accept the mission and will do all I can," Hinata said with determination.

Tsunade smiled at her. "I'm glad to see you taking this serious, but its going to be a bit more like babysitting for you, so there won't be much to it. I just need to see if we can't get her to trust us before I'm forced to take more direct methods with her."

"Lady Tsunade…is it really important that we know who and where she came from that it might result in using harsher means?" Hinata questioned.

"I'm afraid is does. Ino just ran a mind-scan on her…and she saw Sasuke," Tsunade revealed.

A soft gasp came from Hinata and she immediately understood all she needed to know. "I understand...I'll do my part."

Tsunade nodded. "Once we've finished here, we'll take her to a private room for her to rest with a squad as backup for you. I'll inform your clan that you are on a special mission for me so don't worry about sending word back to them."

"With all due respect…my father won't care," Hinata said with a sad tone, averting her eyes from the Godaime. "So long as the news isn't bad, he doesn't really pay attention to anything I do."

Tsunade frowned disapprovingly. It wasn't her business to comment on how people raised their children, seeing as she never was lucky enough to raise a child herself, but she could not help but be disappointed in Hiashi and how he treated his own daughter. She was stronger than he could see and it might be time someone knocked him a good one upside the head to get him to realize that.

"Be that as it may…I'll still have him informed. A father should always know where his child is at, regardless," Tsunade replied and that was all she had to say.

Hiashi was going to get a very rude awakening very soon…and she smirked at the violent tongue-lashing she was going to put the unsuspecting man through. It wasn't needed really as it wasn't any of her business, really…but it would give her someone to finally yell at since she didn't have for favorite orange-clad blonde to do that with. _'You better get back soon, you little gaki…I'm missing you horribly.'_


End file.
